Valve for controlling the flow of fluids and gases under pressure



I. M. MILLER.

VALVE FOR CONTROLLlNG THE FLOW 0F FLUIDS AND GASES UNDERl PRESSURE.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 13,1919.

1,374,860, `Patented Apr. 12, 1921.

] /S attorney,

lnarrar) STATES AiJnpiErsi'r oFrICa- JAMES M. MILLER, oFKJEEsEY CITY,NEW JERSEY.

VALVE FOR CONTROLLING 'THE FLOW OF FLUIDS AND GASES UNDER PRESSURE,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 12, 1921.

Application led November 13, 1919. Serial No. 337,673.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, JAMES M. MILLER,

a citizen of the United States, residing inv Jersey City, county ofHudson, and State of New Jersey, have invented a certain new and usefulValve for Controlling the Flow of Fluids and Gases Under Pressure, ofwhich the following isa specification. i

This invention is a valveforcontrolling the flow of fluids and gasesunder pressure and, while adapted for broad and general use, isparticularly intended for employment with the well known elongatedcylindrical tanks used in the commercial distribution of oxygen foracetylenewelding, etc. y

Oxygen tanks have long been used and the withdrawing of the oxygenfrom,` said tanks under high pressure is usually controlled by a valvewhich is screwed intoy a ytapped hole in the top vof the tank and isknown to the trade as a fservice valve.

This valve is composed of numerousparts among which are a coupling bymeans of which a service pipe may be connected to the valve, and a handwheel through the manipulation of which the flow of, oxygen through theservice pipe may be controlled. Service valves are expensive tomanufacture and, because of the high pressure which they control,require delicate adjustment and the machining of practically all of theparts. Their manufacture and upkeep are a continual source of heavyexpense. In companies employing many thousands of tanks, the overheadexpense in maintenance and repair of the service valves, one of which isemployed with each tank, amounts to many thousand dollars annually overand above the initial high cost of each valve. l

Ask the tanks are shipped with service valves attached, precautionarymeasures are necessary to protect the valves from damage and, inpractice, each tank is provided with a threaded cap` which screws on tothel outlet end of the tank and serves `to house the valve. These capsare quite-deep as the service valves are rather high and, when the tankis ready for shipment, the cap adds considerably to the length ofthetank, requiring additional shipping and storing space.

With these, and other considerations in mind, the object of the presentinvention is to provide a valve f arrangement which will obviate thenecessity of 'associating a In kthe accompanying drawings, I

service valve with each individual pressure tank, and `to so constitutetlievalvular control means of the tank, that the `fluid or gas isnormally retained therein under pressure by a valve of simple andcompact construction and with whichganimproved form ofVseivice`connection may be associated when it is desired to draw offthejc'ontents of the tank.k 'ly this constructiomthe novel form ofservice connection employed becomes. in effect, a master connection, sothatvonly one vservice connection is required for each user and thenecessity of duplication of a service connection for each 'individualtank is overcome. A f

A further advantage of '.thisconstruction is that the valve may be madeconsiderably smaller than the service connection and consequentlyrequire a much smaller housing cap, with the result thatthe tank is lessbulky fork shipping or storage. Moreover, the construction of the valve'may be very simple so that its initial cost willy be but a smallfraction of the initialrcost of the illustrated one practicalembodimentof the invention, but 'the construction ,thereiny shown is tok beunderstood as illustrative preferably employ.

Fig. 2 isa like section of the preferred form of valve used, said valvebeingshown as operatively associated with a pressure than y have,

- proved form of service connection which I n tank of the vusual formandhoused within a conventional cover cap ready for shipment.

Fig. 3 is a central section of thel valvulary means ofthis inventionemployed for use*y in the dispensation of gas or fluids under pressure;and,

Fig. Llis an end view of the inner end of the valve. Referring to thedrawings 5 designates the"Y delivery end of a pressure tank of the typecommonly employed for the distribution of oxygen, etc. This tank isprovided with a threaded outlet opening 6, in which is adapted to bescrewed a valve for controlling the dispensation of the contents of thetank. The exterior or neck of the tank 5 may be threaded to receive ascrew cap 7 adapted to house the valve associated with the outletopening thereof,

It has long been the practice to screw the threaded end of a servicevalve directly into the opening 6 and to house the same fortransportation within the cap 7. However, in accordance with thisinvention, a valve is associated with the tank as shown in Fig. 2 whilea service connection such as for example shown in Fig. 1 may beassociated with the valve to control the operations of the latter. Thevalve may differ in details of construction from the preferredembodiment illustrated in Fig. 2, but, as shown, it consists of a valvecasing formed in two sections 8 and 9 screwed together as shown, with agasket 10 interposed between them to preclude leakage in the threadedjoint. The lower end of the lower section is threat ed to screw into thetank 5 and the upper end of the upper section is threaded to receive ascrew cap 11 or a coupling, )y means of which the service valve may beassociated therewith. Said upper section 9 is also provided with apassage 12 leading longitudinally through the section and the lowersection 8 is provided with a valve chamber 13 having communicationthrough a passage 14 with the interior of the tank. i/iithin the chamber13 is positioned a sealing element 15 of the valve, which sealingelement is provided with a stem 16 guided for movement' in the passage14. y

In Vthe construction illustrated the stem 16 is circular whereas thepassage 14 is irregular in cross section as shown in Fig. l so as toallow of the drawing off of vthe fluid or gas through said passage andabout the stem 1G when the sealing element is unseated. If desired,however, the passage' llt may be circular in cross section and the stem16 squared or iuted. y

The sealing element 15 carries a valve washer 17 of any suitable`material adapted to engage with a knife-edge valve seat 1S, formed atthe lower end of the upper section 9 and said sealing member 15 isnormally held to its seat, as shown in 2, by the pressure in the tankassisted by z, spring L10. It will be noted that the valve chamber 13 isat all times in communication with the pressure in the tank and, sinceit is desirable in tanks for carrying high compressed fluids or gases toprovide safety means for precluding its explosion, I preferablyassociate this safety means with the lower section V8 of the valvecasing in such manner that it communicates with the valve chamber 13.While the safety means may Vshown in Fig. 2.

be. of different forms, that preferred is The wall of the valve chamber13 is provided with an aperture 19 communicating with a tapped hole intowhich may be screwed anv apertured plug 20. The plugA 2O is screwed intothe tapped hole in such manner as to force a fusible disk 21 into aposition to normally seal both the aperture 19 and the aperture in theplug 20. However, in case of fire, the disk 21 fuses and allows of theescape of the pressure through the alined apertures of the plug andvalve casing.

1n order to preclude the escape of pressure from the tank duringshipment or storage in ,such cases where the valve washer 17 of thesealingmember or its seat becomes worn through excessive wear, the screwcap 11 is provided and this screw cap is threaded on to the upperportion of the upper section 9 over a washer `or gasket 22 which forms atight seal. It is, however, apparent that,if the sealing member 15 is ina leaky condition, the vpressure in thetank will be communicated to thepassage 12 of the upper section with the result that, when the screw cap11 was removed to allow of the association of the service connectionwith the valve, this pressure would have a tendency to throw the screwcap 11 free as soon as the last thread was cleared, with consequentdanger to the operator. Accordingly, 1 preferably use this screw capwith apertures 23 in the sides thereof, which Aapertures uncover toallow of the escape of pressure which may exist in the passage 12, afterthe cap 11 has been unscrewed but a portion of the required distance torelease it, and the pressure simply blows out through the apertures 23and by thus escaping overcomes the danger referred to. y

The tank with the screw cap11 in place andthe housing screw cap 7covering the same, is shipped or stored as shown in Fig. 2, butvwhenitis desired to draw off-the pressure for use in acetylene weldingorv as to allow the service connection shown in Fig. 1 to'be associatedwith the valve. T o this erich-the service connection is provided with acoupling 24 of well known form, adapted toscrew on to the upperportionof the valve, after the screw cap 11 is removed therefrom, and bythis coupling the service connection and valve are operativelyassociated with one another after the manner shown yin Fig. 3.

In its preferred embodiment, the service connection embodies a casing 25cored out for its entire length. The lower end of` the casing 25 carriesthe coupling 24 while the upper end of .the casing is tapped to receive.a screw plug 26. Through the screw plug 26 extends a stem 27 of asealing member 28 adapted to seat against the ygasket 29 clamped inplace by the screw plug 26. The stem 27 extends above thek top of `theplug 26 and passes through a hand wheel BO to which it is fixed againstrotation. The spring 31 is coiled about the stem 27 kabove the handwheel 30 and beneath the washer 32 backed upby ay nut 33screwed on tothe upper end oi' the stem 27. Spring 31 serves' to holdthe sealingymember 28 tightly to the gasket 29 i'or` the purposel 0i' precludingleakage about its stem. The sealing 4member 28 is slotted at its lowerend to receive a rectangular plate 34 which is secured in place by a pin35 and operates in thesame manner as a screw driver upon a rotary member36 threaded into the valve casing as shown. The rotary member 36 carriesa depending rod 37 which extendsconsiderably below the coupling 24 andis adapted, when the service connection is associated with the.

valve to project through the passage 12 of said valve into coperative.relation with the sealing member'l of thelatter'as shown in Fig. 3. Whenthe parts are associated as shown in this ligure, rotation of the handwheel 30 imparts rotation to the' rotaryk member 36 which, because ofits threaded coperation with the valve casing partakes of a longitudinalmovement carrying therewith the rod 37. If the longitudinal move-V mentspecilied is in Va downward vdirection the lower end of the rod 37 willengage with the sealing member 15fof thevalve and force it clearof itsseat thereby allowi'ngvthe contents ot the tank to pass throughthe valveand through a passage 38 of the service connection which leads to theinterior of' a threaded boss 39 adapted for the attachment of a servicepipe through the employment of a suitable connection similar to theconnection 24. i/Vhen the desired amount of gas or fluid under pressurehas been withdrawn retrograde rotation of the hand wheel 30 will bringabout a retracting movement of the rod 87 for the purpose of allowingthe sealing member 15 to again come to its seat and seal the tank.

In the accompanying drawings. as well as the foregoing description7 theinvention has been described in its preferred form as particularlyapplied to oxygen tanks. However, it will be understood. that thestructure as shown is susceptible to changes in detail of constructionwithout departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, thevalve stem 16 of the sealing member 15 may, instead of depending intothe inlet duct 14 to be guided therein, extend upwardly from the top ofthe sealing member to be guided in the outlet passage 12. Other detailsof construction may be modified to adapt the invention to differentenvironments and this invention is, therefore, to be understood. as notlimited. to the spe citic construction` described'but as broadly novelasis commensurate with theappended claims.

Having thus fully described the inven-V tion what Icla-im as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Valvular means for controlling the dispensation of liuids orgasesunder pressure from a container, embodying a valve permanentlyassociated ,with the container and provided with a sealing element, andaremovable member `for normally further seal-v ment to allow of thedrawingoii and de' livery ofthe contents of the container.

2. valvular means for controlling the dispensation ol fluids or gasesunder pressure from a container. embodying a valve perma nentlyyassociated with the container and provided with a .valve chamber andinlet and outlet ducts leading to and from the valve chamber, a sealingelement positioned within the valve chamber ,and adapted toqnormallyseal the outlet duct, and removable means for further sealing theoutletduct, said removablel means embodying means for allowing of the escapeof pressure 'accumulated lin the outlet duct through lthe V leakage ofthe` removal of the removable means, in combination with a masterservice connection adapted to be coupled to the valve and providingmeans for operating the latter.

Valvular means .tor controlling the dispensation of fluids or gasesunder pressure from a container, embodying a valve permanentlyassociated kwith the container and provided with a valve chamber and in`let and outlet ducts leading to and from the valve chamber, a sealingelement positioned within the valve chamber and adapted to normally sealthe outlet duct, and removable means for further sealing the outletduct, said yremovable means embodying means for allowing ot the escapeof pressure accumulated in the outlet duct through leakage oi thesealing element, during the removal of the removable means, incombination with a master service connection provided with an actuatingrod, means for coupling the service connection to the valve to bring theactuating rod into cooperative relation with the sealing memberof thevalve, and means for thereafter manipulating the actuating rod to movethe sealing member into or out of sealing position,

the sealing element, during*` whereby the drawing off and delivery ofthe contents of the container may be carried out.

4L. Valvular means for controlling the dispensation of fluids or gasesvunder pressure from a container embodying a valve perinanentlyassociated With the container and provided With a valve chamber andinlet and outlet ducts leading to and from the valvechamber, a knifeedge valve seat associated With the valve chamber, a sealing memberpositioned Within the valve chambed and adapted to be forcedby thepressure within the container into engagement with the valve seat toseal the receptacle against the loiv of Huid pressure therefrom, incombination with a master service connection, means for coupling themaster service connection to the valve, said master service connectionembodying means for forcing the seal member from its seat, against thepressure Within the container, to allow of the outlet of the contents ofthe container through the master connection.

5. Valvular means for controlling the disthreaded into the serviceconnection and pensation of fluids or gases under pressure from acontainer embodying a valve permanently associated" with the containerand provided with a sealing element adapted to be normally held to itsseat by the pressure Within the container, in combination with a serviceconnection adapted to be associated successively With a number ofcontainers,-

the contents of which are to be Withdrawn, said service connection beingprovided with a draw off passage adapted to be placed in communicationwith the interior of the container, when the sealing element of thevalve is unseatech' a rod extending into engagement with the sealingelement lof the valve, a member threaded into the service connection andCooperating with said rod to iinpart longitudinal movement thereto, a

-manually operable' post, rotatably associated with the' serviceconnection and locked to said member for the purpose of permittingthreaded member to be rotated by the manually operable post, and meansassociated with the post for precluding leakage of pressure around thepost. Y

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

JAMES M. MILLER.

